Meta

This work depicting Mary and the Christ Child, by Chicago artist Melville Steinfels, hangs in the Madonna della Strada (Our Lady of the Way) Chapel on the grounds of Loyola University Chicago. (CNS photo/Bart Harris, courtesy of Loyola University Chicago)

This month Best College Reviews released a ranked list of what it says are the 30 most beautiful college chapels and cathedrals in the world. Of the Catholic worship spaces, six are in the U.S. and five are located on international campuses. Now beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but all of these are real stunners. They range from the relatively small Baughman Center at the secular University of Florida to the very modern and critically acclaimed Christ Chapel of Lutheran’s Gustavus Adolphus College, and from All Saints’ Chapel at the Episcopal Church’s University of the South in Tennessee to the incomparable Primate Cathedral of St. Mary of Toledo in Spain, a World Heritage Site. Some serve strictly as college chapels, some are parish churches, and some are bona fide cathedrals.

In the United States, the chapels on Catholic campuses in the ranking are the Madonna Della Strada Chapel of Loyola University in Chicago, the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, Immaculata Parish of the University of San Diego, Saint Ignatius Church of the University of San Francisco; St. Mary’s Chapel of the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota, and St. Thomas of Villanova Church of Villanova University in Philadelphia.

The international churches and cathedral ranked are Cathedral of Santiago de Compestela in Galicia, Spain; the Chapelle de la Sorbonne in Paris; the Church of Saint Yves at La Sapienza in Rome; the Sanctuary of Arantzazu in Onati, Spain; and the Toledo Cathedral.

There are many other beautiful campus chapels in the U.S. and around the world that didn’t make the ranking but are works of art in themselves. Seattle University’s Chapel of St. Ignatius is an architectural masterpiece, so is the abbey church of St. John’s University in Minnesota designed by the great Bauhaus architect Marcel Breuer. Notre Dame Chapel of Trinity University in Washington is a masterpiece of Romanesque architecture and was visited by Pope John Paul II. Perhaps one of the most dramatic college places of worship in America is the Chapel of St. Basil of the University of St. Thomas in Houston. It was designed by one of the greatest U.S. architects, the late Philip Johnson.

You can see photos of all the Best College Reviews ranked churches and read a brief description of each one by visiting the website linked above.